Acme Packing Company
Good running backs can be found anywhere, so let’s see if we can find a true deep cuts.
Running backs have a hard life. They tend to age poorly and, as a result, they tend to miss the big payday of a second contract. There also tends to be an ample supply of average-ish running backs available, and while you might not be able to randomly find a Barry Sanders, you can often find Dorsey Levens (5th round) or Ryan Grant (undrafted) or Samkon Gado (undrafted) or James Starks (6th round) or Aaron Jones (5th round) without too much trouble. Heck, Ahman Green was a 3rd rounder.
There are likely to be quite a few good, productive running backs in this class, with the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus board currently projecting 22 will be drafted, starting with Jonathan Brooks of Texas and finishing up with Georgia’s Kendall Milton. The Packers will likely take at least one.
But just how robust is the supply of good, young running backs? After all, if running backs truly “don’t matter,” as the popular saying goes, we should be able to find a few good ones who aren’t even sniffing draft boards, right? Guys you’ve never heard of, spend some time on the practice squad, and then randomly blow up one day when the starters get hurt. I’ve scoured the dregs of the eligible, and I am happy to report that I have two candidates worth looking at. I like both as NFL contributors, and one in particular I think can be very good. I remember watching Aaron Jones’ college tape many years ago and telling myself “You know what? This guy is just as good as Alvin Kamara.” I got that same kind of feeling, but let’s not start there, let’s start with:
6-2, 237. 6.64 RAS
2023 Stats: 101 carries, 485 yards, 4.8 Y/C, 1 TD, 7 Rec, 33 yards
2022 Stats (UNLV): 209 carries, 1009 yards, 4.8 Y/C, 9 TDs, 23 Rec, 125 yards
The most striking thing about Robbins when you watch his tape is how lean he looks for a 237-pound man. Some of his closest RAS comps include Leonard Fournette, Peyton Hillis, and James Conner, and while he’s superficially the same size as all of them he’s a little narrower, and a little more upright. I think Conner is probably the best physical comp. The lack of volume at BYU is one reason he’s not on a ton of radars, but I also think he defies expectations. You expect a broad-shouldered Hillis-type.
What you get instead may be better. A lot of that 237 is in Robbins’ lower body, which is still more than capable of packing a punch, but unlike Hillis in particular, Robbins is adept at finishing off runs by hitting a would-be tackler at an angle and dragging, rather than hitting them head-on and pushing. The result is a back who nearly always finishes falling forward and is almost never...
